Hi folks!
You shouldn't worry about Greece.It is a true fact that the vast majority of Greeks haven't realised yet in which condition they are..Believe it or not, the most of them continue to drink their daily coffee (priced to 4 Euro) and play on facebook for hours, without being stressed about Greece's fiscal condition.So, why do you worry about?

What pissed me most in this entire deal was to know that the IMF staff uses $3000 / night hotel rooms while it recommends austerity (and actually promotes famine in some cases) to countries - usually dirty poor - it provides "advice". Talk about double standards and lack of sensitivity here!!!

I know N York well to affirm that you can find very good and safe hotel accomodations in Manhattan for less than $1000 / night.

"Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said imposing losses on bond holders would raise “incredible doubts of our credibility"

Dear Madam chancellor, if I may: you are imposing (additional and unnecessary) losses of several hundert billion Euro on us german taxpayers, and your personal credibility is since long down the drain. If it ever existed. So would you please just sthut the f*ck up?

Very true, if Royale now gets the socialist vote then the winner of a run off between Sarkozy, Royale and Le Pen will say a lot about the direction France will be heading in for the next few years. None of them can be sure of winning.

I tend to agree with other comment let them default is the best deal for the average taxpayer in Europe on long term.

@acetracy "Instead of places hardship taxes and budget cuts that affect the middle class, Greece should simply apply a 5% wealth tax on citizens worth over $10 million. They keep that tax in affect until their deficits are paid off."

-Tax for richs in Greece (if paid) are already 40%. I doubt increasing tax will generate revenus , but maybe lower then instead like Ireland did when it ressurect it's economy and attract major company HQ can be good somehow (I don't discuss the position of Ireland now but decade ago)

Greece doesn't need to default. A country defaulting that has many billionaires and millionaires amongst its citizens fails to see the basic fault in Greece finances. The rich in Greece do not pay taxes, pure and simply. Though there are tax cheats in many successful economies of the Euro, they haven't taken over the system as in Greece. There is no criminal recourse at all in Greece today for not paying your taxes.

Instead of places hardship taxes and budget cuts that affect the middle class, Greece should simply apply a 5% wealth tax on citizens worth over $10 million. They keep that tax in affect until their deficits are paid off. Greece's rich class has benefited from many EU loan programs, economic development aid, etc. To squeeze more pennies out of the middle class will just cause political instability.

This same argument is apropos to the US in its current debt ceiling scenario.

The problems with Strauss is actually a relief. Perhaps someone at the IMF not so connected with the wealthy ruling class of Europe can show Greece where it has the resources to pay off its debt.

Is it reasonable to expect Greece to remain in the euro and pay higher interest rates on whatever debt it is able to issue in the future? How high will those rates need to go - to the point at which they become un-repayable - that seems likely, so even a default isn't goiong to solve anything in the medium term.

Surely, if Greece remains in the euro it is not going to be a one-off haircut that the German (and other) banks will face, it will be a continuing drain. At a certain point (probably dependent on real growth, or genuine prospects of growth) someone is going to pull the plug on Greece.

The IMF, the supposed guardian of the world's economy, totally missed the signs pointing to the Great Recession despite their arsenal of "economic tools" because they got caught in a classic case of "clusterthink":

Greece is bust and should have been left to default a year ago. The default doesn't need to break the euro. If the state of Illinois defaults, the US dollar won't break up. If the city of Liverpool defaults, the UK pound won't break up. There is no need for the euro to break up if Greece defaults. Unfortunately, European leaders refused to contemplate the idea of one of their members defaulting, so they convinced themselves that bailouts were necessary to save the euro. They are not. Greece could default, remain in the euro, and pay higher interest rates on any debt it is able to issue in the future.

Germany has a choice: let Greece (and possibly Ireland and Portugal) default, and be forced to bail out the German banking system, once. Or write an open-ended check to every profligate politician in Europe to run up whatever deficits they like on the communal tab, forever. I think it's clear which option I would choose.